Cape May NJ to Sandy Hook Bay NJ (anchorage)


We woke up early to a PERFECT morning sunrise and left a bit after 6am.  (It's daylight now at 5:30am, we are far enough north!)



We exited the serene harbor at Cape May and the swells started.   Oh the joy. .


The Shrimp boats were just coming off the ocean as we exited the channel.  


This started out to be our view ...  But the waves were starting to hit us from two directions.    Two footers from the east.   3 footers from behind.     We had 125+ miles to go today so we knew we would be up on plane and bashing through waves.  The boat goes better through waves when not slow and rocking anyway ..   it's just expensive ...

It's very difficult to take pictures of waves.

I did get a pic of Atlantic City as we passed by though...    But that didn't last long...
Can you see the fog taking out the tops of the buildings?   That's true.   And it kept coming down until it took out EVERYTHING...


It's harder to take a picture of fog than waves.   It really got foggy.    We spent most of the day in fog not seeing anything but waves. Not even the sun.  It was white with maybe a 500ft sight line.  

Twice in the fog we passed unmarked sailboats at anchor that didn't have AIS (to announce their location via VHF).   Ghost ships.    Neither one was directly in front of me so I could just pass by them - but it did make me nervous.   

There were also large container ships and go fast yachts coming from behind and from in front .... But they could fortunately see I was there because of AIS.  

This worked for the first 80 miles or so then the port engine started losing rpms.   That intermittently slowed that engine down and I figured we had garbage in the filter again but I really didn't want to stop in the huge waves and get both of us sick changing filters in a hot engine room.  

But eventually we lost almost all rpms on that motor and I had to face the inevitable.  

So we rocked like crazy while I sat in a hot bilge and replaced a fuel filter.   No bueno.  Still no rpms.   So I replaced the Racor filter ...  Still no bueno.   And a seasick wife.  Joy.  

So I started the starboard engine and we set it to driving to keep going with the waves and stop the horrific rocking.  

But....  Working on a motor while the motor next to it is running isn't fun.  Hot, smelly and makes one sick..  

After some testing I figured out the throttle cable has become disconnected in the bouncing from the engine.   (Thank goodness for old physical cables that are easy to diagnose....   No fly by wire here...).    

So.... a few more trips up to clear the lungs, and laying over the hot engine - I was able to disconnect  the shift assembly.   I was able to thread the assembly back on the shaft and then put the assembly back on the throttle.   Presto!  Full power.   Even more than I had before the issue. 

Now the boat would do 25-26mph (although I tried to keep it about 21-22)...  And we could get further north pronto.    

Up into New York harbor waters, around the point and into the breakwater at Leonardo NJ (in Sandy Hook Bay, Middleton township NJ). This is a beautiful beach area and we are recovering nicely.  

I had some left over fried chicken and fries at anchor for a late lunch/early dinner.  We put things back together in our living room (turned engine room) -- and now we are settled in...

More than 135 miles today in the boat with one slow section ...  Whew.  Glad to be here and almost done with salt water.   (I think we are going to add some since we have the time though - and attempt the Hells Gate on the east river and then up into Long Island Sound to explore for a few days....)

And...  Finishing the day with another awesome sunset.  Life is good ...at least until I have to fill up the four fuel tanks again.  Lol




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